Book 43: Can You Keep A Secret?

My office hosted a second hand book sale to raise money for the United Way last month, and having little to do when there were no customers, I picked through the books that had been brought in, hoping to find something to tide me over through a Girl Guide camp that weekend. Nothing heavy (either literally or metaphorically) would do, and I had read and enjoyed some of Sophie Kinsella’s previous books (The Shopaholic Series). So I came to pick up Can You Keep A Secret.

I wasn’t expecting much, and what I found was mostly fluff. But there is definitely nothing wrong with that. This particular brand of fluff was hilarious. And British. Always a worthwhile combination.

The main character, a hapless, well meaning professional just starting out, finds herself upgraded to a first class ticket on a flight from Scotland to England, which encounters horrendous turbulence. This fear for her life somehow prompts her to spill every secret she’s ever kept – insecurities, inappropriate dreams, work grievances – to the man sitting next to her, never intending to a) live, or b) see him again.

The flight having landed safely in London, she then turns up for work the next day, and who should she find? The man from the plane is the company’s head honcho, in town for just a few days to observe the every day operations of his company.

Hijinks, of course, ensue.

The results were hilarious, I was laughing out loud, and reading passages to my fellow leaders in an attempt to explain to them why I was in hysterics during ‘quiet time’.

Sometimes it seems that ‘Chick Lit’ gets a bad rap, but for me, similarly to Young Adult Fiction, Chick Lit is something to be enjoyed. Not every book you read has to be deep, thought provoking, or thousands of pages long. Some of them can just be funny. Or enjoyable. Or a fun escape from every day. And Sophie Kinsella never disappoints in this regard.

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pippa_adams@sfu.ca

Coincidental Reality

Philippa Adams is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Her research focus is the way audiences in the age of social media interact with, talk about, and understand popular culture, particularly film and television.

Pippa holds a BA in Political Science from UVic and an MA in Communication from SFU. Her Master’s thesis examined the production process on the television series Battlestar Galactica.

Pippa works as the Research Manager at the GeNA Lab where she manages a range of quantitative and qualitative research projects.